Friday, September 16, 2011

The real meaning of "noon", How the ancient Jews (and medieval Christian monks) continue to influence modern society

25th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew 20:1-16a

Going
out about nine o’clock […]
And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock […] Going out about five o’clock […]

The parable of the landowner
who hired laborers for his vineyard throughout the day, even hiring some at the
last hour of the working day, and yet paid them all equally (giving each the
usual daily wage). The Lectionary, following the New American Bible, renders the
hours of the day in a way that is understandable to modern Westerners: Nine o’clock,
noon, three o’clock, and five o’clock.

The original Greek text,
however, speaks of the times of the day according to the old Jewish manner of
counting time. As we consider this ancient method of measuring the day, we will
see what the true meaning of “noon” is, and how both the ancient Jews and the
medieval monks continue to influence even the most secular people of the modern
day.

The
hours of the day

The literal translation of the
Greek text of this Sunday’s Gospel speaks not of “three o’clock” etc., but of the third hour… the sixth and the ninth hour … the eleventh hour.

Modern man counts time from midnight
to midnight, hence at 12am the hours of the day begin anew and continue through
to 12pm (which is roughly mid-day) and until 11:45pm (or 23:59). The ancient
Jews, however, counted not from mid-night but from sunrise. Thus, the hours of
the day began at dawn (which was the first hour, called “Prime”) and continued
through to the sixth hour (which was about mid-day) and until the twelfth hour
(about sunset). The hours of the night were generally calculated according to
four “watches”, though there were often only three watches in the summer months
(when the night was shorter).

To recognize the relation of
the modern method to the ancient we offer the following table:

Modern method

Ancient Jewish method

6am

First hour

9am

Third hour

12pm

Sixth hour

3pm

Ninth hour

6pm

Twelfth hour

9pm

First watch of the night

12am

Second watch of the night

3am

Third watch

Till about 6am

Forth watch

The
hours of the Divine Office

The hours of the Breviary (also
known as the “Divine Office” and, more recently, the “Liturgy of the Hours”)
are named after the ancient Jewish method of counting time. Hence, the daytime hours
of the Breviary (which is the prayer-book of the priests and monks, and of the
whole Church) are called: Prime, Terce, Sext, and None. These are the prayers
which are said between Lauds (i.e. Morning Prayer) and Vespers (i.e. Evening
Prayer).

Prime is said at 6am, which is
the first hour. Terce is offered at 9am, the third hour. Sext is prayed at
12pm, which is the sixth hour. And, finally, none is prayed at 3pm, which is
the ninth hour. These names – prime, terce, sext, and none – are nothing more
than the Latinized way of naming the various hours of the day according to the
ancient Jewish custom: “Prime” means “first”, “terce” means “third”, “sext” “sixth”,
and “none” means “ninth”.

The
anticipation of the “ninth hour”

Notice that the ninth hour begins at 3pm and
that this prayer in the Divine Office was called “none” (which is simply from the
Latin word meaning “ninth”). This word “none” is not pronounced as the English word
“none” (i.e. “no one” or “nothing”) but the “o” is pronounced as “ow” in the
word “own”.

Little by little, the prayer
hour called “none” came to be called “noon” (the “own” sound being elongated
into the “o” in “moon”). In fact, the modern word “noon” (which means “mid-day”
or 12pm) comes from the ancient prayers of the Breviary – “noon” originally
meant the “ninth hour” which was at 3pm. How then did “noon” come to mean “mid-day”?

In the middle-ages, the custom
of anticipating the prayer times in the monastery became more and more popular.
Over many years, the monks and the priests began to pray the Breviary earlier
in the day – this was motivated, in part, by the fact that the monks would often
fast from all food until after the “none” prayer time (especially during Lent);
hence, the monks could eat earlier if they prayed the “none” hour not at 3 pm,
but at 12 pm.

How
“noon” came to mean “mid-day”

As the Christian monks and
priests, in their prayer books, had adopted the ancient Jewish mode of counting
time, the Jewish “hours of the day” came to be identified with the “hours” (or
prayers) of the Divine Office. Ultimately, the prayers of the Breviary came to
be more dominant in the European mind even than the original meaning of the Jewish
“hours”.

When the prayer of “none” (now
pronounced and called “noon”) came to be prayed not at the “ninth hour” (i.e. 3pm)
but at mid-day, 12 pm began to be called “none” after the prayer time of the
monks and priests. Thus, the English word “noon” originally refers not to 12 pm
(or mid-day) but to the “ninth hour” which is 3 pm. However, because the monks
and priests began to pray the Breviary earlier in the day, the word “noon” has
come to mean “mid-day” or 12 pm.

Modern
society is rooted in Christianity and Judaism

Many modern secularists refuse
to speak of “Christmas” and instead insist upon the “winter holiday season”.
They do this in order to keep Judeo-Christian biblical ideas out of modern
language.

However, if such secularists really
wanted to “purify” modern language from its Christian and Jewish roots, they
would have to stop using even the most common words – like “noon”. Here, as bad
as modern society may sometimes seem, it is encouraging for Christians to
remember that the biblical influence on modern western society is so deep that
the only way to remove the Judeo-Christian roots would be to utterly destroy
Western Civilization. We can only hope that the secularists will recognize this
truth.

Good post. Those hungry monks have truly shaped our English language.I pray too that secularists, and others, who tamper with English for their own political agendas will see the error of the ways. But it sometimes seems like an uphill battle.

SDG,In fact, the matter is a bit more complicated ... the "first hour" of the Jewish day was from dawn to about 8am -- but this all depended upon when dawn was.Hence, in the Summer months (when the day was longer), the first hour could be even earlier than 6am. However, in the Winter months (when the night was longer), the first hour would begin much later.

In other words, my chart isn't really an exact correlation between modern and ancient time-tables ... rather, it is only a rough approximation.The "first hour" roughly begins at 6am, but truly begin at dawn.

[additionally, it is interesting to note that the "hours" of the Jewish method do not necessarily equal 60 minutes ... they are simply 12 equal divisions of the day-time]

It is true, however, that "Prime" (the first hour of the Breviary) was often prayed around 7am ... though even here there is no little diversity from monastery to monastery.

Thanks, this helped me I think. I recently started saying prime, sext and compline, (little hours?) but the lovely little divine office book I bought says prime is at full sunrise. That's not 6 am any more here. It's too much fun for me to try saying them in the Latin. Gloria Patri! perri

@Jim Hicks and SDG,There is no "zero hour" in the Jewish method of telling time ... hence, the "first hour" begins at sunrise.

Today, sunrise in Jerusalem was at 6:24am.Throughout the entire month of June, sunrise was around 5:35am -- hence, the "first hour" began at 5:35am.The latest sunrise ever is in Jerusalem is about 6:40am ... thus, the latest the "first hour" ever started for the Jews in Jerusalem was 6:40am.

So, if one were to make a table to relate the "hours" of the Jewish day to modern time, the "first hour" would begin somewhere between 5:30am and 6:40am (depending on the time of the year) ... don't you think 6am is a good in-between? Certainly, 7am wouldn't be right.

Fr. Ryan, I would add that part of the reason for the shift in the English language also has to do with the change in latitude. London is just shy of 20 degrees further north than Jerusalem; at the winter solstice, sunrise is at 8 a.m., and there are fewer than 8 hours of daylight. England also had a very much larger proportion of cathedrals run by monks than any other country; at the end of the solar year, they could not hope to cram the whole of the much longer monastic office into such a short period. Rome, on the other hand, is only 10 degrees further north, and the ecclesiastical equivalent to "noon" is Sext, i.e. Siesta (a custom which I hope you don't miss too much!) Best regards!

Following up on Gregory's comment, in medieval England it was common to pray several offices together one after the other, because of this shortened day time in late Fall through early Spring, putting together Matins-Lauds-Prime and Vespers-Compline. When Cranmer crafted Morning Prayer (Mattins) and Evening Prayer (Evensong) as a combination of the morning and evening offices for the Book of Common Prayer, he was not creating this out of his own head, but institutionalizing a then-common practice.

My contribution to restoring none is that when I fast (every day except Sundays and feast days from the Exaltation of the Cross till Easter Sunday) I don't break my fast till after I pray vespers around 4-5pm. I do have a cup of black coffee in the morning though except Fridays.

"Here, as bad as modern society may sometimes seem, it is encouraging for Christians to remember that the biblical influence on modern western society is so deep that the only way to remove the Judeo-Christian roots would be to utterly destroy Western Civilization. We can only hope that the secularists will recognize this truth." I am afraid they have recognized this...